Saulters in the {BIG} City: Independence Weekend!

Stuart and I had a great, All-American 4th weekend. We headed up to Memphis by way of Jackson, MS to spend some time with Stuart's family. Our first night we stayed in Jackson with our friends Parker and Allison. They took us to this cute little restaurant called Julep which is famous for its fried chicken. I'm not usually a fried chicken fan, but since USA Today had said that they were in the "top 10 of fried chicken in America" I had to try it (American Weekend activity #1). Whoa. It was crispy and juicy and covered in a honey rosemary gooey sticky sauce. Delicious!

Early Saturday morning we continued our drive up to the Memphis area. All of Stu's immediate family now lives in Southaven, MS, which I guess you would call a suburb of Memphis. They are all enjoying apartment living as they search for new homes. When Stuart and I arrived we packed 8 adults, 1 baby, and 2 dogs into their 2 bedroom apartment. A good noisy time was had by all! Even Vera Kate enjoyed exploring some new territory.

I enjoyed small spaces too as a child ... but this was a new one for me!

She shut the door herself, I promise. Sorry Sally for putting this on here! =)

After visiting for a bit we headed to downtown Memphis for some good 'ol baseball (American Weekend activity #2). We got the "cheap seats", which just so happen to be my favorite seats in a baseball stadium - the grass! Put me on a quilt in the grass over a hard plastic tiny stadium seat any day! The guys watched the game and the gals mostly chatted and people-watched. And all took part in delicious unhealthy stadium BBQ nachos (American Weekend activity #3)

A couple of superstars in those shades!

Delish and only 300 calories. Just kidding.

The night ended in an awesome fireworks show which we watched on a quilt under the sky. (American Weekend activity #4) So fun! Also, it turns out taking pictures of fireworks is easy when you've had a fireworks setting on your camera and not known about it for 2 years.

After the game we walked back to our cars in the lot entitled "parking is fun" to find ourselves in a very non-fun experience: waiting. We sat in the parking deck for 45 minutes before we were even able to leave our parking spot! Fatigue and frustration lead to some pretty interesting conversations about environmental laws and the weight of mass produced chickens (long story).

On Sunday we got up bright and early and went to Sally and Brian's church in Memphis. The preacher there gave a sermon entitled "Not of This World" contrasting our American citizenship with our Heavenly citizenship. It was really good! They also had a short program honoring the military during which my "sinuses" may have acted up a little bit!

For lunch, where else in Memphis would we go but to Chipotle?! Stuart's unfailing love for this restaurant never fails to amaze me. We all had delicious Mexican food (I guess that doesn't qualify for an American activity?) and then headed back to the house.

That afternoon we all spent some QT at the apartment swimming pool while Vera Anne made homemade ice cream (activities 5 and 6)!! We also got to have a special visit from the Oswalt's, some of the Saulters' family friends. They are affectionately known as the Oswalt six, which increased our number up to 10 adults, 5 children, and 3 dogs in a 2 bedroom apartment. I was so glad to finally get to meet them - they are a super family!

Monday morning, after a late and intense night of dominos (activity #7??) we headed back down to the coast. Our church friends, Adam and Dana, just so happen to live at a marina and own a sailboat. They were kind enough to invite our small group out on the boat to watch the fireworks over Mobile Bay Monday night (boats and fireworks, activities 8, 9). If there's anything that Stuart loves more than Chipotle, it might just be sailing and dreaming about owning a boat one day. So needless to say he was happier than a pig in the sunshine. I had a good time too, and was super excited that my lame-o motion sickness didn't make me hang overboard.